We have a client that required some documents to be translated from English to Greek and the translators must meet the following requirement by Greek Embassy.
- The translator who performs the translation must be a certified translator, member of the Greek Bar Association, or graduate of the Ionian University Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting.
This specific requirement raised some challenges for the client, so he reached out to us for help and we successfully helped this client complete his translation project according to the requirements of the Greek Embassy. He also gave us a great Google review.
In this post, we want to spend some time explaining what challenges are and how Translation Boulevard (that offers Washington DC Translation Service and Washington DC Interpretation Service) can overcome the challenges and provide our client with great service experience.
At Translation Boulevard, we offer Greek translation service and Greek interpretation services. We have qualified English to Greek and Greek to English translators and interpreters that can help your translation or interpreting needs in the greater Washington D.C. area. We also have Greek translators who can handle other languages beyond English.
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Certified Translator – Where You Find Them
The issue with any organization needing translation or interpretation services Washington DC and beyond is the accuracy of the translated documents. Most institutions may not speak or read the languages your document originally in or translated into so they must rely on a qualified translator to do the job. A certified translator is the best translator to do the job as he or she has been certified by a professional institution or professional association. One of these highly regarded professional associations is America Translators Association. For example, the founder of Translation Boulevard (that offers Washington DC Translation Service and Washington DC Interpretation Service) Sean Song is a Chinese translator certified by American Translators Association (ATA). But ATA only provides certification tests for 34 languages pairs. The language pairs from other languages into English include: Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Ukrainian (Wikipedia). The language pairs from English into other languages include: Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Ukrainian (Wikipedia).
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Among them, Greek language is not one of them. In other words, ATA does not have certified translators in English to Greek and Greek to English translation. It does not mean that there are no qualified translators in these language pairs but it simply means that these qualified translators do not offer certified status.
The main reason that certain languages pairs do not have a certification process from ATA is probably because of a less demand. If a major language pair such as English to Chinese or English to Arabic is often demanded, often it would be eventually provided the opportunities to have a certification process.
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Do Other Organization Offer Certification in Greek Language?
ATA is one of the most prominent organizations that offers certification and provides a list of certified translators in certain language pairs. But ATA is not the only one that provides certification. Federal court and state courts also provide certification process for interpreters in some language pairs. But as far as I know, the federal court only provides certification in Spanish due to its high demand and nothing else. The states provide certification in different language pairs varying state by state. But it is a similar situation when it comes to some smaller language pairs. For example, in the list of certified or qualified interpreters in Maryland Court Interpreters Registry, there are only two qualified interpreters in Greek languages. They are not the certified translators required by the Greek embassy. The court interpreter registry often includes two types of interpreters, certified or qualified. Sometimes when the interpreters did not pass the certification but they are sill somehow qualified by meeting some standards, they will be listed as qualified interpreters even there is a certification test in that language pair. But sometimes if there are no certification tests for certain language pairs, they will be listed as qualified interpreters. But please bear in mind that interpretation and translation are two different skill sets. Many interpreters may interpret well but may not translate well. Likewise, many translators can translate well but not interpret well.
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What are Other Alternatives?
Now that you understand how difficult it is to find certified translators in Greek language, the Greek consulate must also be aware of this, so in their requirements, it also provides other acceptable translators beside certified translators. These translators include members of the Greek Bar Association, or graduate of the Ionian University Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting. We have working relationship with translators who are members of the Greek Bar Association and who are also graduates for the Ionian University Department of Foreign Languages. The Foreign Ministry of Affairs of the Greek government provides a limited list of certified Greek translators.
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How Do you Find them?
You will be mistaken if you think it is easy to find qualified and trustworthy translators. You not only need to find them and make sure they are trustworthy. Some translators claim they are qualified and delivery on time, but they may ghost on you when the delivery time comes. It has happened so many times for me. Finding the right translators not only cost time to search but it also takes time to vet them. The only way to find out if they are trustworthy is to take time to work with them. This is what we do at a professional translation agency. We are constantly looking for and finding qualified translators in different languages into our network and we vet them and test them. It is a lot of hidden work we prepared before we engage with the client. Feel free to find your own translators, but if you work with Translation Boulevard, you are in the hands of good people. We value integrity and trust. We treat our venders and translators and interpreters well with good and on time payment, we serve our clients with our best customer service as well. Please contact us at contact@translationblvd.com or call us at 202-992-2626. You can also submit your documents online at our website securely. The website is www.translationblvd.com.
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